[B] More Metal Sound Mod V2.2 for 1.010/1.011 & Warband 1.105+ *Updated 6/19/10

[Soil]

I, personally, have found your sounds not to be 'beefy' enough. I disagree with Gerhard, I think the trample of horses needs more bass. The sounds generally need a bit more bass, IMO.
The sound of metal is awesome, it reminds me a bit of M2:TW.

I like the fact that the grunts sound a bit more realistic and not like everyone took a nice breeze of sulfurhexaflouride before going into battle, though...

You did a very good job, I do think the sounds are a bit shallow, though... But it could be personal preference and maybe depend on the speakers...

[Checkmaty]

Thanks for the feedback, Soil
When I first started sound editing I made the mistake of overdoing my sounds and making them too beefy and mono(same sounding). For a good sound experience the sounds must complement each other and fit together nicely while containing a good variety. In situations where many different sounds are playing at once, the audio should mesh together without any sounds drowning the others out and not sound painful to the ears.  A flurry of very loud mono sounds is actually painful to the ears and this of course means a bad audio experience. This is why I don't like to overdo my sounds and make them too beefy. Of course personal taste is a factor but it is very hard to please everybody.
I went with how the audio sounds personally to me, so more feedback is welcome.       

[Kardiophylax]

Just tried it out in game and I really enjoyed them.  Thanks for releasing these sounds and for making them available for modders to use (with due credit of course). 

[Gerhart]

@ Soil, I'm wondering if it may be your audio card and/or speaker setup?  With my setup, and it is not a very expensive one, the Calvary literally "thundered" and shook my desk.  It started out slow but as more horses took off it rolled through my sub-woofer.

These sound more realistic, to me, and not over done, like most of what I hear out there.  Checkmaty what you said is a perfect way on how I feel about what you did.  Again I truly believe you have done an outstanding job.... Thanks again

[Soil]

Well, mine wasn't really expensive either but I didn't really feel the horses trample(I know, the sound usually really comes if the horses gallop, but even with my subwoofer I have right next to me and my bass turned to maximum I couldn't really feel it).
I've had horses ride by me very close and I must say that really shook the ground under me(it was at max 5 horses, if I remember correctly, imagine that with 40 or even more horses!).

I should say that some sounds are fine(there's no need for a BAM! when you hardly hit someone with your sword or an arrow landed in the ground, but using mostly javelins in game I find it a bit unsatisfying to hear only a 'tsing' and an 'youch' when I throw my javelin from 5 m distance from my galopping horse on a foot soldier for 50 damage into his chest...

Another thing I'd like to add is that it's actually not a simple 'blop' when you hit a shield with proper force.

Last but not least: I don't want to say you did a bad job, just that I disagree with a few sounds

[Checkmaty]

Just tried it out in game and I really enjoyed them.  Thanks for releasing these sounds and for making them available for modders to use (with due credit of course). 

You are welcome 

Checkmaty what you said is a perfect way on how I feel about what you did.  Again I truly believe you have done an outstanding job.... Thanks again

Really glad you are enjoying the sounds, Gerhart. Really gives me motivation to continue working on the mod.

@Soil
Thanks for the feedback, Soil
Putting too much bass into the horses will drown out the other sounds during combat, this is a bad thing in terms of gameplay. Maybe if I could get more opinions on the horses I may tweak them to be louder.
All projectile flesh impacts besides player impacts in the game use the same sound set so getting a good balance between how all the different ranged weapons sound when hitting flesh is quite a challenge. I have been meaning to change them though as I have also noticed them to be a bit wimpy during my playtests. Flesh impacts for projectiles will be improved for next release.
Shields impacts are also difficult to get right as the difference between the force of a sword/dagger and a great axe is significant. I find the balance for shield sounds at the moment to be just right. They will be improved for next release though.

I will try to get in a few hours every day to work on the sounds. Currently the sounds don't do to well when large numbers of men are fighting at once so I will start testing with the battle size changer and high unit counts. I will also start using version numbers for future releases as I continue to improve and add in sounds.             

[lucky lancer]

My first post here in the forums... 

Just want to sing my praises for your exellent sound mod! - Downloaded it yesterday and I don't exaggerate when I'm saying: it's my favorite! 

I especially do like the balance of sounds and the overall atmosphere it creates!
Adds a LOT of fun and life to the game.

Keep up the great work! - In my eyes it clearly is an enrichment.

So much for my first post... 

Best regards!

[Gerhart]

Checkmaty I would really like to throw this sound mod into the Prophesy of Pendor mod but to be honest I'm sort of lost.  In Prophesy of Pendor he has added some extra sounds (voices and I believe some ambient) plus some of the originals were modified. 

I looked in his sound folder and counted 75 added/modified sounds, some with same name as Native but different numbers at the end.  Example : Native - encounter_sea_raider_10.ogg 1281  ;  PoP - encounter_sea_raider_10.ogg 1793

I was wondering if I need to go through his sounds.txt, find the added/modified lines and copy those over to your sound.txt and adjust the beginning number to match?  If this is true then it's going to take me some time while my eyes go crossed 

[Checkmaty]

@ lucky lancer
Thank you very much for for your kind words and your first forum post! 
I'm glad you are enjoying the sounds 

@ Gerhart
I don't have much experience modifying the txt files and it is probably a bad idea/impossible to merge the sounds that way. If I could get the "module_sounds.py" from the mod, then I could merge the sounds and upload the new sounds.txt.


Just discovered the custom battle mod, this should make testing the sounds much easier...

[Gerhart]

I hate to ask this but I have to.... where would I find the "module_sounds.py" in the mod?  I've looked in all of the folders but I come up with nothing 

[Soil]

module_sounds.py is only important for mod developers. What you need is sounds.txt.

[Checkmaty]

The module_sounds.py is the python file used by the module system to input sounds into the game. If the file isn't included with the mod then asking the modder to release it is the only way.

[TheWitcher]

Maybe finally someone could gather all available soundpacks and create a one mega-uber-beefy "official" sounds replacement which would finally cover all sounds in the game? With proper module_sounds.py for easiness of merging with other mods? Which would be kind of mandatory for every M&B player and every mod creator?

What do you think, folks?

BTW: Good job Checkmaty! I like these sounds a lot!

[Checkmaty]

My goal is to eventually replace ALL the native sounds so a mega pack may not be needed.
Hopefully I'll even be able to add in new female voices. I've just found someone willing to scream her lungs out into the mic but the quality of her screams leave much to be desired. 

[TheWitcher]

My goal is to eventually replace ALL the native sounds so a mega pack may not be needed.
Hopefully I'll even be able to add in new female voices. I've just found someone willing to scream her lungs out into the mic but the quality of her screams leave much to be desired. 

Well... yes I understand what you mean, and what your goal is, but... err... why to replace some sounds which were *already* replaced in another sound pack(*if* they're good quality of course). This way you could have a library of sounds for mix'n'match waaaay quicker. I bet that authors of the previous sound mods wouldn't have anything against such an idea if they would be asked and credited a proper way...

Why don't you get some voces from the games which already have some female characters (Baldurs Gate/IcewinDale/Torment/NWN 1&2) and mix them together in a proper way, or sample them just tone by tone?

That's just an idea though..